2014 Greek Fest

OPA! I have been Greek for a day twice in my life. «You know the word twice… is a Greek word» My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
My girlfriend got 2 free passes from Unilocal (BIIIIIIG THANKS!!). So we went and had a ball. The food, awesome! Entertainment, also awesome! Everything was just so… Greek. I loved it! Opa!
The food! The food is reason enough to go. Especially the deserts. So good. So much sugar. It’s like for every inch of cookie they give you, you get a small hill of sugar with it. The Greeks know what they’re doing. The prices weren’t too bad either.
My girlfriend and I had about 2 cups of wine. It would have been better if we had had it with our lunch earlier. But it was still ok.
They had a lot of stuff you could buy: T-​shirts, hats, books, stickers, all kinds of stuff. I really wanted to buy something but unfortunately, everything is cash only and I only brought so much with me. Enough to get fat from Greek food.
Great entertainment. Either live music outside or shows inside.
This is really a great way to experience another culture. If I were a teacher going to something like this would be extra credit. I had a ball and cannot wait for next year.

Unilocal 365 CHALLENGE 2014−(222÷365) «It’s Not So Greek To Me»
I haven’t been to the McCoy Pavillion since grade school! The venue of the Greek Fest was great, and I loved seeing that people were just enjoying themselves. I like the effort put into this festival though, as the Greek restaurant scene in the 808 is very slim to none.
Stations were divided and spaced throughout the property, and as with almost any food festival, prices are slightly jacked up! A standard Gyro was delicious, but set you back $ 7.50. The dude taking your order must’ve had a gyro stuck up his okole because he certainly wasn’t the most courteous.
The dessert station was pretty sneaky too. Baklava you can buy alone, but they were «out» of the others and only available in an assortment tray for $ 15 which unfortunately was not even worth it. Some Saganaki would’ve been great… maybe next year? ALOHA!!!
Shaka Meter: \uuu/​\uuu/​\uu 2.5
Nice effort, but pretty sparse selections, and sneaky sales tactics… no bueno!

I have to give this festival 2 stars for effort. I have been to several Greek Festivals and this one is by far my least favorite one.
The most memorable part of this event for me was the scenery at Mc Coy Pavilion with plenty of shaded seating.
We sampled the Gyro which was delicious but overpriced and the services was a bit rushed.
The only pastries you could buy al a carte was their baklava. «Conveniently» the rest of the pastries could be bought as a sampler package at $ 15 buckaroos! Sadly we fell for it since they all looked unique and delicious and wanted to sample more than the typical Baklava, however, they were not great and regretfully we ended up throwing them out.
The entrance fee was $ 3 which seems reasonable since there is not much to see or do and therefore would not merit a higher admittance fee. A couple of food vendors and other miscellaneous booths selling religious items, jewelry etc. as well as a band playing some regional music, Greek folklore performances, and public dancers cheering out OPA were a part of today’s entertainment.
Once again 2 stars for the effort.

What a way to bring different foods and cultures to the beaches of Hawaii!
I love that this festival exists. I’ll tell ya’ now, I am used to Wine Festivals, Garlic Festivals, Italian Festivals, and much more back in California. It’s so cool have this festival here and to hold it at the McCoy Pavilion (which a lot of people don’t know about. even if they’ve lived here for a long time!)
Everyone from the entry gates, to the buffet line, and the ouzo pouring ladies and gentlemen were awesome. Everyone looked happy and like they sincerely wanted to be there. Despite how hot it was, there was a lot of shady areas. I would have preferred a little more coverage over the tables that were set up for eating, but hey, there are trees and the ground if you’re that desperate.
Anyways, gyros, ouzo, spanakopitas, feta cheese, dolmades, baklava, kourabiethes, and so much more. Man! I freaking ATE. I wish there was more Greek food like this available around the island.
There was live music and there was even a show with kids young and old dancing to beautiful music. I really enjoyed this part. The kids were so cute!
Again, I’m grateful for this event.
The pavilion itself was a little dirty and so were the ponds. I think some power washing and fresh paint can do wonders here. I’d like to see McCoy Pavilion management take a step up!
All in all, for a $ 3 admission fee, you should certainly support this festival! Moreover, thank you Unilocal for supporting the festival and even giving out free tickets to some random, lucky Elites! Without the opportunity to snag a couple tickets, I wouldn’t have even known about the event.

Opa!
Truth be told, that is the ONLY Greek phrase I know. And, really, all I need to know. After much research on the (oh-​so-​reliable) World Wide Web, I’ve discovered that Opa! has taken on many new meanings and is flexibly used nowadays. But the definitions that I particularly liked explained that the simple, but powerful word, has the same culturally-​generated meaning as what we know in Hawaii as Cheeee! or Chee-​Hu! At least, to me, Aimee N. (If you feel differently, I apologize and please move right along.)
You can imagine as I (literally) entered the gates of the 33^rd Greek Festival this year, my inner Greek screamed, «Opa!!!» aka «Cheeee-​huuuu!» No, no, no, not because it was my first time (this is probably my third or fourth festival) or because we were treated by the Unilocal Hawaii crew to tix this year (#luckyus). Rather, because the power of the Greek spirit and culture has this #amaze way of literally transporting your mind and spirit, even if just for an hour or two. Food is its own universal language that naturally brings people together. To the Greeks, the food is simply the catalyst to bringing families, friends, and new friends together. Spending time together, having a big party, and sharing the food is as important as the food itself. You could feel the energy from the bands and dancers — it really just makes you want to jump the pond (see pic) and shake what your mama gave you… maybe. But, seriously, the positivity and smiles were infectious throughout the festival.
The fun, the music, the dancing is all wonderful, but don’t get me wrong, Eaters (I mean, Unilocalers)…Greek food is the shizzle. I can attest to that because as my hubby and I (yes, only two people) had our cray cray share of the Greek food fest. We had two gyros (and took home two more for lunch the next day #bestideaever), a huge Greek salad, a Loukaniko wrapped in pita, a bowl of three scoops of lemon sorbet, a bowl of four Loukoumathes (they say they are like Malasadas, but they reminded me of Andagi with honey), and a TRAY of baklava for me (four chocolate and two original). If that list doesn’t make your mouth water, you might want to get your pulse checked.
Every time I go to the Greek Fest, I hope to hit up the Greek Kitchen for Mousakka, Pastitio, or some Spanakopita, but the scent of the gyros seems to always whisk me away… maybe next year? What I’ve shared is just the tip of the iceberg of options at the Greek Fest because there’s a lot of ethnic foods for purchase, other desserts (but the baklava has a hold on me!), wines, Greek coffees, lemonades and teas (you should’ve seen the insane line!), jewelry, and festival shirts. All in all, I ALWAYS look forward to the Greek Festival and all that it has to offer. And, yes, next year you, too, will have an Opa!-moment at the 34^th Greek Festival!
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Food, drinks, music and oxygen are the only four things I need to have a good time and a good time was had by me at the Greek festival last Saturday.
The location at McCoy Pavilion was great: outside beach-​y air, yet enough shaded area to stay out of the sun and cool down. Be wary of walking too fast near the ponds or you’ll fall in! (Especially if you’ve had a few and suddenly have an illusion of being able to breathe underwater)
The booths: were awesome! I absolutely love different cultures and learning about them. Food, drinks, jewelry, clothes, books, little trinkets, etc. I bought a little Catholic placard and matching rings for myself and my boyfriend (Irish rings with a symbol for eternal love. Le sigh, how romantic). Bf’s sister bought some incense and incense holder. Was totally going to get a belly dancing belt, but saw a cute dog wearing it better than me, so my excitement went from 100 to 0 real quick.
Music: I didn’t understand a single word, but it was lovely nonetheless. There was dancing and live music keeping everyone in lively spirits. My bf really loved the dance circles.
Food and drinks: We had a gyros for $ 7 and it tasted like heaven but much more onion-​y. We also had lemon sorbet as a nice sweet treat. We tried the Greek liquor ouzo and it was extremely strong and tasted like licorice. We drank that, a Greek beer and some Greek wine and had another ouzo and I forgot what happened after that. But I can say that I had a great time! Looking forward to the next Greek festival next year :)

Had a good time at the Greek festival this year. Lots of great authentic food, drinks and entertainment. Who knew hawaii had so many Greeks.
Ended up eating dolmas, tahini, spanikopita, pittas, olives, baklava, etc. drank a few Greek beers and shots of ouzo. The entertainment was nice too, a Greek singer and some dancers.
It was a somewhat small gathering of venders and there wasn’t too much to see. But the entrance fee was only $ 3, the food and drinks were great, and it was a lot of fun.

Cute event held at McCoy Pavilion set in the middle of Ala Moana Beach Park. I loved that it was held at the Pavilion which offered some much needed shade! We got there about 1PM, I suggest getting there either early or later to avoid larger crowds, as we were getting ready to leave people were really starting to pack in. A co-​worker of mine mentioned that he went in the evening and the place was sort of magically lit up.
We sampled the pork souvlaki which was pretty good, the pork was a bit dry but the doughy, fresh pita made up for it! We got a bento of the pastries which were pretty good but a tad pricy I thought, $ 14. Next time I would just buy some individual items.
We saw the dance performance, which we enjoyed, as well as the live music. Overall a fun event to mix into the usual weekend day of beach hopping and other island adventures.

My first time attending the Greek Festival
My takeaways…
The Greek dancing performance was interesting. It was a 30 minute show with the dance troupe – decked in traditional Greek apparel – performing a myriad of folk dances.
Not much else to see…
The food was mediocre… fast food quality to me. Salad with browning, not-​so-​fresh veggies… My gf’s chicken was dry…
Would I come back next year? I don’t think so… I rather go golfing! LoL

Thank you Unilocal for our free tickets to Greek festival. I love Greek fest! And have gone 3 years so far. It’s always a fun time. Especially if you go with fun people!
This is a cute small festival where you can get all your favorite nom noms in and maybe a little dancing too. This is one of my favorite festivals because it’s always so chill. Get some food, take some licoricey ouzo shots, grab a beer, and sit under the tree with friends listening to the music.
A little tip… park at ward and walk over. It’s actually pretty close! And then you have a reason to go shopping afterward («well hunny we parked here we might as well go into Nordstrom Rack… maybe look at some shoes»). See? Win-​win.

This was my first time to the Greek Festival in Honolulu– I didn’t even know this existed! I arrived with my friend and her dog around 12:30 and the ticket table people didn’t give us a map or tell us anything about the event, simply told us to put our tickets (Thanks, Unilocal,for the comp tickets! :D) in the box. Long lines filled the pavilion.
We waited for gyros (delicious! very quick to get them, once we put in our order.) and then sat near the fish pond, expecting the band to play. After about 45 minutes of testing the mics and a few drum solos, still no music! :(That would have been fun to listen to.
Caught a glimpse of the traditional Greek dancing in a heavily air conditioned room, and stopped by the table selling imported Greek foods like olives, giant buckets of feta and pine tree honey (cool, huh?). I bought a can of dolmades (rice-​stuffed grape leaves).
Overall I thought it was a fun cultural event but with a better map/​greeter service, the experience would have been improved.

I thought this event was so much fun! I’ve been to the McCoy Pavilion before for an HCAP graduation, but didn’t realize how big and extensive the area really is. It was honestly the perfect setting for a Greek festival. Some people complained about the heat, but there were lots of shaded areas. I would definitely recommend wearing light clothing and sunscreen though just in case.
The entertainment was amazing. They had a Greek dance in the auditorium section at 1:30 and 4:30 and live music from a band that played wonderful Greek music. They didn’t sing in English so I have no clue what the music was about, but it was very lively!
The food was hands down the best part of the festival. I love food. They of course had gyros (which I learned is actually pronounced «year-​o») with lamb, tomatoes and onions and the yogurt sauce. They also had pork skewers, and Greek sausage. This was my first time trying Greek sausage, and I love it! It’s my 5^th favorite type of sausage – bumped German sausage down 1 place :)
The desserts were so good. I tried a spiced honey cookie and it was the best cookie I’ve ever had. Lots of their desserts were drenched with honey. They were even selling jars of Greek honey. Admission is only 3 dollars, free for military and children under 11. The food ranged from 5 – 7 dollars unless you opted for lunch/​dinner plates from the Greek Kitchen. The plates ran from 11 – 18 dollars.
They served Greek wine and beers at the taverna for anyone over the age of 21.
Overall it was a really fun event! I definitely recommend checking it out next year if you haven’t already :)

I couldn’t find the event to check into… :(But anyways, 1^st time to the Greek Fest! It was a very cool kind of event and I didn’t know what to expect. As always, thank you Unilocal for my tickets! I ended up going solo cause my +1 wasn’t able to come but I still got quite a bit out of it.
I got in just before 4; totally didn’t think to come right at 12 and missed the Unilocal table! Picked up a brochure at the little ticket table and started. If I realized there was more than just that first area, I would have walked around first before making my dining choice. I must have just been too excited to study the map.
I got a plate first and sat down — wow, wasn’t expecting the $ 12-​$ 15 plate but you got quite a bit of food: salad, rice, bread, dessert, entrée. You could also get things ala carte. I got the pasticchio lunch plate. Pasticchio, as I learned was a baked macaroni casserole with bechamel sauce. (I thought it was almost just like my baked ziti with less sauce). It was good and I ate every bit of the plate!
Next I headed around to the other side of the pavilion where I was able to watch the Nisiotes Dancers. They performed various dances that looked so fun! These kids were really good! I’m glad that I was able to catch the performance as they danced earlier in the afternoon as well.
There was an Orthodox booth if you wanted to learn or purchase religious type things, across from the little auditorium was a coffee booth but the line was too long so I passed on that. I did however check out the pastry line and the little deli set up where you could purchase various items. There were 2 pastry lines: one with «pre-​packaged bento», a variety of pastries and the other for ala carte pastries. Very efficient I thought. It was so tasty and I’m slightly kicking myself for not purchasing any of the pastries. Instead, I tried Ouzo Sorbet! It was a huge portion (i thought anyways) for the price! I couldn’t eat the whole thing cause the licorice flavor started getting to me but the sorbet was so refreshing!
This is such a nice community event and I met a bunch of first timers, repeat visitors, tourists who happened upon the festival… What an awesome way to spread culture and have a nice time!
I only stayed for about an hour and a half as I had another engagement but I’m so glad I came out. Will look forward to this next year!

So this is the first time I have heard of a Greek Festival being in Hawaii after living here all my life so we decided to check it out. It was located in the McCoy Pavilion in the middle of Ala Moana Beach Park. I thought this was the perfect location for this festival, with the courtyards and stage setups. Got to eat the gyro and soulvaki, which was okay in flavor. The dolma was good just enough tart for me, because I had some that were too tart before. But the deserts blew my mind! They Had loukoumades, baklava, kourabiethes, which were all so delicious! The loukoumades is a greek doughnut, but to put it in local terms: it’s a honey cinnamon andagi lol. So delicious! The baklava was very good and super sweet. The kourabiethes was a really good almond cookie!
To top it off they had Mythos– a greek beer, and Elios– a greek white wine at the Taverna. What could get any better than alcohol being served here? I loved the fact that when I bought my wine, the man said OPA! lol!
Overall this is a good festival to get acquainted with greek food. They even had plates with a lot of different greek foods, but they were a bit pricey ranging up to $ 15. This made me miss Europe and want to go back!

Thank you Unilocal for my FREE tickets to the 2014 Greek Festival at McCoy Pavilion. My significant other and I enjoyed an afternoon out; I haven’t been to McCoy Pavilion in decades! Yeeesh!
It’s a nice venue because you can control the amount of people entering. There was sufficient police presence to ensure order, given the large population of homeless people in Ala Moana Park. Inside were stages with entertainment and booths with food, drinks and sundry items for sale. To get in the spirit of things I bought myself a tinkling anklet!
Tried some berry lemonade, which was OK. The Greek food was OK; the macaroni with spiced meat was flavorless for the most part. But the dolmathes were good (stuffed grape leaves).
The entertainment was good with authentic Greek music and singers. And they encouraged audience participation that made for good fun!
An enjoyable afternoon in beautiful Hawaii nei! Woo hoo!

Opa!!! How fun!
Thank you Unilocal for my free admission to this really really neat event.
My super plus 1 (aka mama aka Donna F.) told me that I went to the festival when I was really young. But I kind of feel like this was my first time. My buddies from work and their families were there too. Kids ran free and had a great time.
We ate great Greek cuisine. Drank Ouzo. Danced (and kept dancing because the wonderful musicians decided to extend the song… because we were having so much fun). We hunted for shade and ice cold drinks… because it was hot hot hot! We also enjoyed our ouzo and lemon sorbets.
We visited the dessert area for all the treats to go.
Overall, I know I would go back and would love to take my hubby.

Yassou (welcome) to the 2014 Greek Festival! 33 years of festivals and it’s still a fun event to attend on a beautiful Sunday (or Saturday) at Mc Coy Pavilion. Thanks to Unilocal for the tickets!
We lined up at 11:50 for the 12:00 opening. The workers are all pleasant albeit as unorganized as the first time we came 30 years ago. Funny, I say this every time: why sell tickets in advance if we all have to stand in the same line to get in? Oh well, maybe some day.
After entry, we went directly to the line for Gyros. Good choice as we were probably 15^th in line and when we finally got to the front, looked back, yikes the line was easily 100 people standing patiently, many with umbrella, for those yummy Greek delights. My favorite! Ahh the money to be had if someone walked that line with cold Greek beer or Ouzo!
Okay, next to the Taverna for our favorite Greek liquor Ouzo. Three or four sips… gone. Not us, the Ouzo! They also offer a couple of Greek wines, a couple of Greek beers and water.
I snagged a picture of someone’s Greek pasta salad that was sitting on a chair… yes I asked for permission, which looked awesome but I wanted to get to the pastry booth before they ran out.
The brochure/​map claims Greece as the birthplace of democracy and all things delicious and sweet. I’ll drink to that! I bought two of the Hercules assortments to take home for the family. Three types of baklava and some wedding cookies, looking good!
Immediately to the left of the pastry tables, the Greek Market. Wonderful display of Cretan Olive oils, olives, herbs, grape leaves, Olive oil soaps, jams and pastas. Unfortunately they were out of my favorite Greek seasoning salt. I usually buy it every year but they sold out on the first day this year. Darn it I killed the last of mine a couple of weeks ago.
There were also booths with religious gifts and books for those interested in Orthodoxy where you could sign up for a guided tour of their Cathedral on Lunalilo Street. A coffee booth serving Greek coffee and Frappé. A T-​shirt booth (out of shirts XL and above). The Olive Tree Café booth serving Ouzo sorbet and plates of Loukoumethes.
The music resounds over the entire Pavillion courtesy of a group based in LA aptly named Apollo. In the Fountain Courtyard was a lone performer who first performed at the festival in 1986, Sotos Kappas. It was nice to listen to him as we were sitting and enjoying another Ouzo and sharing an order of Souvlaki (marinated pork kabobs).
Efharisto (thank you) to Unilocal again for the admission tickets. A fun event and looking forward to doing it again next year!

Went to the Greek Festival this year for the first time. It was pretty crowded by 12:30 with long lines, but lines moved quickly. $ 3 admissions is a great deal, and the food was reasonably priced. The drinks were around $ 5 (and it was really hot so I recommend bringing lots of water to save money!). The music was great! But I really recommend going for the food.
The best thing that we had, by far, was the Gyros. I believe there is only one place for the Gyros and it is in the back corner to the right of the main stage. The pita was fresh, and the meat really tasty. I could have had a second one! We also really enjoyed the Greek pastries. The baklava melted in our mouths (some of the best I’ve ever had) and the sugar cookie that was covered in powdered sugar was fantastic, as well. Grab some napkins as it can get messy! The loukoumades from the Olive Tree were our follow up favorites, covered in honey!
I would not recommend the Greek salad. Although it was a large plate, it was mainly iceberg lettuce with lots of dressing. It felt like it was poor quality :(it had some amazing feta, but two very tiny squares, 4 cherry tomatoes, and 4 olives. I was really disappointed. But, on a good note, their dolmas and pita were decent.
Overall, I had a good time! We stayed about 1.5 hours, ate good gyros and pastries, and left happy.

I always have something come up and miss the Greek Festival so this year as soon as I saw the weekend, I saved the date! Then I saw Unilocal giving away free tickets so I crossed my fingers and waited patiently with high hopes. When Emi emailed me I was in, I leaped with joy — 2014 was my year to Greek out!
Parking was not easy so we chose to park by the mall and walk over. Upon turning in our tickets, we were given a stamp so we could come back until closing along with a pamphlet with a map & where to find all the goods. We honestly didn’t know where to begin, it was simple but exciting!
We started at the Greek Kitchen & tried the spanakopita plate which included rice, salad, feta & olives, bread, 2 grape leaves, a spanakopita and a buttery, gingery, bitty dessert thing for $ 11. It was good although we felt like the spanakopita should have been a little bigger. We went over to the Taverna for some Greek Mythos beers ($ 6) which were light & yummy. Next we had to go fulfill the meat craving in our bellies so the gyro tent was where we beelined. They were $ 7 a piece and I think the best deal in the place. Filled with lamb & beef, tomato, onion and tzatziki on a soft pita and wrapped so perfectly that none of the goodies could fall out. It was delish! Hit the other Taverna to keep our Greek buzz momentum going. :) Finally, we had to go sweet so we tried loukoumathes from the Olive Tree Café. They’re mini yeast donut holes covered in honey and nuts. Very good but a little dry. I still need more and the pastry tent had my favorite: baklava. Single pieces were $ 3 but we went with the ‘bento’ for $ 17 that had 4 baklava plus 2 chocolate baklava. Sticky & tasty! We did want to hit the coffee booth for strawberry lemonade in a mason jar ($ 8) but in the end we stuck with beer. Everybody’s lemonade a looked tasty though and the line was constantly flowing so you know it was good.
Overall, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the food and drinks. Everything was priced reasonably for the most part. The music and atmosphere was fun. I do wish there was a little more to do besides eat so we could have hung out more. Once we got too full we had to go home for naps heh. Thank you Unilocal for helping me have a great day of eats & drinks & happiness with the boyfriend. My Greek need has been satisfied!

Yassas, Opa! Forget the Windex jokes that seemed to have started from the movie «My Big Fat Greek Wedding»… If you are looking for a fun, happy and gut-​busting festival then you need to get yourself here!
We arrived early because we knew that this location would be filled quickly with festival goers. Unilocal Schwag fans were distributed and boy, did we need them! Long lines quickly formed for the various food stations and marketplaces. A band was setting up but hadn’t even played a note for the hours we were there.
All of the food tents were popular as evidenced by the long lines that quickly formed. As soon as we entered, we made a bee-​line for the Gyros. At $ 7 each, these pita wraps were stuffed with a roasted beef/​lamb mixture, tomatoes, onions and Tzatziki (yogurt based sauce with cucumbers). We sat and are our sandwiches while «scoping out» our next move. We got in line for pork souvlaki (grilled marinated meat) but the cook said the pork wasn’t cooked through so we got and shared a Greek sausage (Loukanikos). The sausage was mildly flavored with garlic, cumin and citrus. There were no condiments. Next to the souvlaki booth, the Olive Tree Café served Loukoumades (Greek version of malasadas brushed with honey) and lemon or ouzo sorbet. The Loukoumades were light and sweet and we off-​set the sweetness with tart lemon sorbet. It was refreshing! We roamed around the festival booths and found ourselves drawn to the Greek pastries. Oooo myyy! Why should we have to make choices from all of these luscious pastries? They made it easy… you could purchase a pre-​packaged assortment that contains most of your favorites. In addition to the pre-​packs, you could select separately if you only wanted a single choice.
Thanks to Unilocal Hawaii for the free tickets that allowed me and my husband to enjoy the frivolity and festivities.